The French wanguage is spoken as a minority wanguage in de United States. Roughwy 2.07 miwwion Americans over de age of five reported speaking de wanguage at home in a federaw 2010 estimate,[1][2] making French de fourf most-spoken wanguage in de nation behind Engwish, Spanish, and Chinese (when Cajun, Haitian Creowe and aww oder forms of French are incwuded, and when Cantonese, Mandarin and oder varieties of Chinese are simiwarwy combined).[3]

More recentwy, French has awso been carried to various parts of de nation via immigration from Francophone regions. Today, French is de second most spoken wanguage (after Engwish) in de states of Maine and Vermont, and de dird most spoken (after Engwish and Spanish) in de states of Louisiana, Connecticut, Rhode Iswand, and New Hampshire.[2][4]

A totaw of 10,804,304 peopwe cwaimed French ancestry in de 2010 census[6] awdough oder sources have recorded as many as 13 miwwion peopwe cwaiming dis ancestry. Most French-speaking Americans are of dis heritage, but dere are awso significant popuwations not of French descent who speak it as weww, incwuding dose from Bewgium, Switzerwand, Haiti and numerous Francophone African countries.

Louisiana French is traditionawwy divided into dree diawects, Cowoniaw French, Louisiana Creowe French, and Cajun French.[8][9] Cowoniaw French is traditionawwy said to have been de form of French spoken in de earwy days of settwement in de wower Mississippi River vawwey, and was once de wanguage of de educated wand-owning cwasses. Cajun French, derived from Acadian French, is said to have been introduced wif de arrivaw of Acadian exiwes in de 18f century. The Acadians, de francophone inhabitants of Acadia (modern Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Iswand, and nordern Maine), were expewwed from deir homewand between 1755 and 1763 by de British. Many Acadians settwed in wower Louisiana, where dey became known as Cajuns (a corruption of "Acadians"). Their diawect was regarded as de typicaw wanguage of white wower cwasses, whiwe Louisiana Creowe French devewoped as de wanguage of de bwack community. Today, most winguists regard Cowoniaw French to have wargewy merged wif Cajun, whiwe Louisiana Creowe remains a distinct variety.[9]

Ernest F. Haden identifies de French of Frenchviwwe, Pennsywvania (Covington Township) as a distinct diawect of Norf American French.[16] "Whiwe de French encwave of Frenchviwwe, Pennsywvania first received attention in de wate 1960s, de variety of French spoken has not been de subject of systematic winguistic study. Haden reports dat de geographicaw origin of its settwers is centraw France, as was awso de case of New Orweans, but wif settwement being more recent (1830–1840). He awso reports dat in de 1960s French seemed to be on de verge of extinction in de state community."[17][18][19]

Brayon French is spoken in de Beauce of Quebec; Edmundston, New Brunswick; and Madawaska, Maine mostwy in Aroostook County, Maine. Awdough superficiawwy a phonowogicaw descendant of Acadian French, anawysis reveaws it is morphosyntacticawwy identicaw to Quebec French.[20] It is bewieved to have resuwted from a wocawized wevewwing of contact diawects between Québécois and Acadian settwers.[21] Some of de Brayons view demsewves as neider Acadian nor Québécois, affirming dat dey are a distinctive cuwture wif a history and heritage winked to farming and forestry in de Madawaska area.

In Fworida, de city of Miami is home to a warge Francophone community, consisting of French expatriates, Haitians (who may awso speak Haitian Creowe, a separate wanguage which is derived partiawwy from French), and French Canadians; dere is awso a growing community of Francophone Africans in and around Orwando and Tampa. A smaww but sustaining French community dat originated in San Francisco during de Gowd Rush and was suppwemented by French wine-making immigrants to de Bay Area is centered cuwturawwy around dat city's French Quarter.

In Maine, dere is a recent increase of French speakers due to immigration from Francophone countries in Africa.[30][31]

Many retired individuaws from Quebec have moved to Fworida, or at weast spend de winter dere. Awso, de many Canadians who travew to de Soudeastern states in de winter and spring incwude a number of Francophones, mostwy from Quebec but awso from New Brunswick and Ontario. Quebecers and Acadians awso tend to visit Louisiana, as Quebec and New Brunswick share a number of cuwturaw ties wif Louisiana.

French has traditionawwy been de foreign wanguage of choice for Engwish-speakers across de gwobe. However, since 1968,[32] French has ranked as de second-most-studied foreign wanguage in de United States, behind Spanish.[33] Some 1.2 miwwion students from de ewementary grades drough high schoow were enrowwed in French wanguage courses in 2007-2008, or 14% of aww students enrowwed in foreign wanguages.[34]

Many American universities offer French-wanguage courses, and degree programs in de wanguage are common, uh-hah-hah-hah.[35] In de faww of 2013, 197,757 American university students were enrowwed in French courses, or 12.7% of aww foreign-wanguage students and de second-highest totaw of any wanguage (behind Spanish, wif 790,756 students, or 50.6%).[36]

French teaching is more important in private schoows, but it is difficuwt to obtain accurate data because de optionaw status of wanguages. Indeed, de study of a foreign wanguage is not reqwired in aww states for American students. Some states, however, incwuding New York, Virginia and Georgia, reqwire a minimum of two years of study of a foreign wanguage.

^Statistics Canada (Apriw 2002). "Ednic Diversity Survey: Questionnaire"(PDF). Department of Canadian Heritage. Archived from de originaw(PDF) on 12 February 2010. Retrieved 25 Apriw 2008. The survey, based on interviews, asked de fowwowing qwestions: "1) I wouwd now wike to ask you about your ednic ancestry, heritage or background. What were de ednic or cuwturaw origins of your ancestors? 2) In addition to "Canadian", what were de oder ednic or cuwturaw origins of your ancestors on first coming to Norf America?